Frankie Welch (Mary Frances Barnett), a noted 20th century Washington, D.C. area textile designer who hails from Rome, GA, designed and created scarves that were the height of fashion from the early 1960s to the late 1980s and beyond. Frankie Welch was honored by Betty Ford who chose her to design her Inaugural gown. It is now displayed in the First Ladies’ Hall at the Smithsonian Institution. Working mainly out of Alexandria, Virgina, Welch designed more than 4,000 scarves for business, colleges, cities and individuals. Among those were the Cherokee Alphabet scarves for U.S. embassies overseas, and scarves for Time Life Books, the University of Georgia, National Geographic, McCormick Spice Company, and McDonald's first franchise outside the United States. Welch began her custom scarf designing in 1966 when Virginia Rusk, wife of then Secretary of State Dean Rusk asked Mrs. Welch to make a gift for visiting foreign dignitaries from the State Department.

The collection consists of scarves, handkerchiefs (some framed), garments and canvas bags by fashion designer Frankie Welch; these are identified in thist listing by name of organization, event, or individual. While the bulk of the collection consists of sample textiles with designs, some files also contain preliminary designs on paper and related design contracts. Also included in the collection is a small amount of correspondence and photographs.

Design files (including several textile samples interfiled) make up the bulk of the collection and are arranged in alphabetical order by the name of the organization or individual commissioning the design, and/or event. Other materials are roughly arranged by record type.